George Floyd – An unarmed African American man was killed by a police officer because of which protests have erupted in the US city Minneapolis.
By : ABP News Bureau | 28 May 2020 03: 48 PM (IST)
Protesters demonstrate against the death of George Floyd outside the 3rd Precinct Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. – The family of an African American man killed by Minneapolis police while handcuffed in custody demanded Wednesday that the officers be charged with murder. After a night of angry protests over the death of George Floyd, with law enforcement firing tear gas and rubber bullets in the northern US city, his sister Bridgett Floyd demanded the arrest of the four white police officers involved in his death. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP)
George Floyd killing: A spate of protests have erupted in the US city Minneapolis after an African American man died while in police custody. The video of the incident circulated in social media and angered many who see it as racially motivated violence.
What exactly happened?
On May 25, in Minneapolis a city in the US state of Minnesota, an unarmed African American man, George Floyd died after a white police officer knelt on his neck despite Floyd’s repeated appeals that he cannot breathe. According to reports, the police had responded after receiving calls from a shopkeeper that someone was trying to pass counterfeit currency. Floyd was handcuffed and taken away and surveillance video shows that he complied with officers. Later mobile phone videos were taken by onlookers circulated in social media. It showed the white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he was pinned to the ground. The other police officer while another one looked. In the video, Floyd can be seen gasping for air and making appeals that he is unable to breathe and that he is going to die. The policeman did not move for seven minutes despite protests from onlookers and by the time the policeman moved Floyd died.
This incident came shortly after another video showed a white woman making a call to the police to falsely report about ‘a black man threatening her life’. She did this after the man had requested her to put her dog onto a leash and it angered her.
(Protesters demonstrate against the death of George Floyd outside the 3rd Precinct Police Precinct on May 27, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. PIC/AFP)
What happened after that?
The officers involved in the incident have been fired. The Mayor Jacob Frey has also asked to press criminal charges on the police officer who is responsible for the death of Floyd. According to reports, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also involved in investigating the case along with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehensive (BCA).
Outrage and protests to demand justice
After the video of the incident came to light, on Tuesday many came out on the streets to protest and demand justice for Floyd. The protesters are pressuring the authorities to arrest the officers who were involved in the incident. People were seen holding banners with ‘Black Lives Matter’, ‘Jail killer KKKops’, and ‘I can’t Breathe’ (what Floyd said in the video).
Riot police have also been deployed and on Tuesday when protestors had marched to the main police station, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. Cases of violence have also been reported and Fox News has said that arson and looting have occurred in some places of the city. (PICS/AFP)
